Closure latch



May 7, 196s Filed March 24, 1967 A. ARLA CLOSURE USKAS LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet l INXN'TOR ATTORNEY May 7, 1958 A. ARLAUSKAS 3,381,993

CLOSURE LATCH 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 Filed March 24, 1967 ATTORNEYl United States Patent O 3,381,993 CLOSURE LATCH Alfonsas Arlauskas, Livonia, Mich., assigner' to General Motors Corporation, Detroit, Mich., a corporation of Delaware Filed Mar. 24, 1967, Ser. No. 625,786 6 Claims. (Cl. 292-216) ABSTRACT F THE DISCLQSURE A vehicle body door lock includes a frame on which is pivotally mounted a latch bolt having spaced shoulders on an edge thereof. A spring biased-detent pivotally mounted on the frame includes a foot engageable with each of the bolt shoulders to locate the bolt in latched and intermediate positions. A blocking lever is pivotally mounted on the detent and is spring-biased in the same direction as the detent to maintain a blocking foot of the blocking lever in engagement with the edge of the bolt. When the bolt is in latched position, the blocking foot is located adjacent a lateral tab of the latch frame to prevent movement of the detent out of engagement with the bolt shoulder. To release lthe detent, a solenoid first moves the blocking foot to unblocking position out of juxtaposition to the frame tab and then moves a lateral tab of the blocking lever into engagement with the detent to move the blocking lever and the detent as a unit about the detent pivot and move the detent foot out of engagement with the bolt shoulder and permit the bolt to move to unlatched position. When the solenoid is deenergized, the blocking foot moves into engagement with the bolt edge to locate the blocking foot in unblocking position. The blocking foot remains in engagement with the bolt edge when the bolt is in intermediate position to maintain the blocking foot in unblocking position.

Specijcatz'on This invention relates to closure latches and more particularly to a detent blocking means for vehicle body door locks.

One feature of this invention is that it provides a blocking means for blocking movement of a detent out of engagement with a latch bolt when the bolt is in latched position. Another feature of this invention is that the blocking means includes a blocking lever mounted on the detent for movement therewith between holding and released positions and for movement independently of movement of the detent between blocking and unblocking positions. A further feature of this invention is that the blocking lever includes a blocking foot juxtaposed to a latch frame abutment when the blocking lever is in blocking position. Yet another feature of this invention is that the blocking lever is moved by the operating means from blocking to unblocking positions and the blocking lever includes pickup means for picking up the detent when the blocking lever has been moved to unblocking position to move the detent and blocking lever to released position upon further operation of the operating means. Still another feature of this invention is that the latch bolt includes a cam edge arranged to locate the blocking lever in blocking position when the bolt is in latched position and the operating means are not actuated and to locate the blocking lever in unblocking position when the bolt is in released position and the operating means are not actuated. Still another feature of this invention is that the bolt has an intermediate position and the cam edge of the bolt locates the blocking lever in unblocking position when the bolt is maintained in this position by the detent.

These and other features of the door latch of this in- ICC vention will be readily apparent from the following specilication and drawings wherein:

FIGURE 1 is a partial side elevational view of a vehicle body door lock embodying a blocking means according to this invention;

FIGURE 2 is an enlarged view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 2-2 of FIGURE 1;

FIGURE 3 is a view taken generally along the plane indicated by line 3-3 of FIGURE 2 and showing the bolt in latched position and the blocking lever in blocking position;

FIGURE 4 is a broken away partial View similar to FIGURE 3 showing the bolt in unlatched position and the blocking lever in unblocking position; and

FIGURE 5 is a broken away perspective View.

Referring now particularly to FIGURE l of the drawings, a vehicle body designated generally 10 includes a front door 12 which is hinged at its forward edge 14 to the body 10 for movement between open and closed positions. A door lock, designated generally 16, is mounted on the rear or lock pillar wall of the door 12 and cooperates with striker means, not shown, mounted on the adjacent body lock pillar to hold the door in closed position. The latch 16 is similar in many respects to that shown and described in the pending application of Lloyd W. Rogers, Jr., Ser. No. 546,415, filed Apr. 29, 1966, and assigned to the assignee of this invention. Accordingly, only those details of the latch 16 which are necessary to an understanding of this invention will be particularly described and reference may be had to the aforenoted application for other details.

Referring now to FIGURES 2 through 5 of the drawings, the latch 16 includes a main frame or plate 1S which a'buts the lock pillar wall 20 of door 12 and is secured thereto by bolts 22 which extend through the wall 20 and into tapped embossments of the plate. An auxiliary frame or plate 24 is located in generally parallel spaced relationship to the frame 18 and includes lateral tabs 26 and 27 which are staked to the frame 18 to locate the frame 24 with respect thereto. A pivot pin or shaft 28 is secured to the frames 18 and 24 and a fork type bolt 30 is rotatably mounted on the pin 2S for movement to latched, intermediate and unlatched positions as will be described. A coil torsion spring 32 surrounds the pin 28 and has one end thereof secured to the pin and the other end thereof engaging a lateral tab 3d of the bolt 30 to bias the bolt clockwise toward unlatched position shown in FIGURE 4. The bolt is located in this position by the engagement of tab 34 with tab 3S of frame 24.

When the bolt is in intermediate position, not shown, and in latched position, shown in FIGURE 3, the throat 36 ofthe bolt receives the shank of a headed striker pin 3S which is mounted on the body pillar wall. The striker pin may be located within the throat of the ibolt by various types of Iwedges or shoes, such as the rotatable shoe shown in the aforenoted Rogers, lr., application. The frame 18 and the outboard flange thereof are cut away at 4th and the door wall 2t) is similarly cut away to provide for entrance of the pin into the door and latch.

A detent lever 42 is pivotally mounted on a shaft or pin `i-l which extends between the frames 1S and 24. A coil torsion spring 46 surrounds the pin 44 and has one end thereof engaging a notched upper flange 48 of the fra-me 18 and the other end thereof engaging a notched lateral tab Sil of the detent lever to continually bias the detent lever counterclockwise of the pin 44. The detent lever includes a detent foot or abutment 52 which is engageable with an abutment or shoulder 54 of the edge portion 56 of the bolt to maintain the bolt in latched position as shown in FIGURE 3 or with abutment 58 of the edge portion to maintain the bolt in intermediate position, not shown.

A blocking lever ntl is pivotally mounted on a pin 62 secured to the detent lever and a coil torsion spring ed has one end secured to the pin 62 and the other end engaging a lateral tab 66 of the blocking lever to continually bias the blocking lever counterclockwise of the pin 62 or in the same direction as the bias of the spring 46 on the detent lever, The blocking lever further includes a lateral tab 68 which overlies the upper edge of the detent lever, best shown in FGURE 2, and a depending, generally lioolosliaped foot or leg 70. The blocking lever is limited in its clockwise movement relative to the detent lever by the engagement of the tab 68 with the upper edge of the detent lever. Once this engagement occurs, further clockwise movement of the blocking lever can only occur with like 'movement of the detent lever in the same direction.

When the bolt 30 is in latched position, the foot 70 of the blocking lever has an edge portion 72 thereof located immediately below and in juxtaposition to a lateral lanced tab 74 of the frame i8. Accordingly, if for any reason the detent lever 42 should be moved in a clockwise direction about the pivot 44 so as to tend to move the detent foot 52 out of engagement with the bolt shoulder Sil, the edge 72 will engage the tab 74 and block any such movement.

A solenoid 76 is mounted on the frame 13 by having a bracket 78 thereof, FlGURE 2, riveted or otherwise secured to an inner flange 80 of the frame i8. The armature S2 of the solenoid underlies the tab 66. lt is intended that the solenoid be energized either from the exterior of the body or from the interior of the body in any con ventional manner such as by a combined push button and switch arrangement 84 which may be incorporated in an outside door handle 86, FIGURE l.

I it is desired to release the bolt 30, the solenoid 76 is energized and the armature 82 will swing the blocking lever 60 clockwise about the pin 62 against the action of the Spring 64. When the blocking lever 6) initially moves clockwise of the pin 62, the edge 72 of the foot 70 `will move out of juxtaposition to the tab 74 and the lateral tab 68 of the blocking lever will move into engagement with the upper edge of the detent lever to locate the blocking lever in an unblocking position. Upon continued movement of the blocking lever in a clockwise direction, the blocking lever and the detent will move as a unit clockwise of the pin 44 so that the detent foot 52 moves out of engagement with the bolt shoulder 54 and the spring 32 moves the -bolt to unlatched position, as shown in FIGURE 4.

When the bolt is in this position and the solenoid is deenergized, the cam follower edge 88 of the foot tl will engage a portion 90 of the bolt edge 56 to locate the -blocking lever in unblocking position with respect to the tab 74. The foot S2 of the detent lever will also engage this edge portion 99 under the action of the spring 46.

When the door is closed and the pin 38 engages the inboard edge of the bolt throat, the bolt is rotated counterclockwise about the pin 28. During this movement, the detent foot 52 will move ofr" the edge portion 9G and into engagement with the shoulder S to thereby maintain the bolt 30 in intermediate position. The follower edge 88 of the foot 70 remains in engagement with the edge portion 9d to maintain the blocking lever in unblocking position. Upon further movement of the door to closed position, foot 52 will move along an edge portion 92 of the bolt edge 56 and into engagement with the shoulder 54 to maintain the bolt 30 in latched position. As the `detent foot moves into engagement with the shoulder 54 of the bolt, the foot 70 will move from the edge portion 90 to the edge portion 92 and thereby move to its blocking position. The edge portion 92 is located a lesser radial distance from the axis of the bolt than the edge portion 90.

The closing of the door has been described in a stepby-step sequence, and normally when the door is closed d the bolt will move continuously from its unlatched to its latched position without any pause or stopping at the intermediate position.

Thus, this invention provides an improved vehicle body door latch.

l claim:

l. A closure latch comprising, in combination, support means, latch means mounted on the support means for movement between latched and unlatched positions, detent means mounted on the support means for movement between holding and released positions with respect to the latch means to respectively hold the latch means in latched position or permit movement to unlatched position, blocking means mounted on the detent means for movement therewith and movement relative thereto between blocking and unblocking positions, cooperating means on the blocking means and the support means located in juxtaposed relationship to each other in the blocking position of the blocking means and the holding position of the detent means to block movement of `the detent means to released position, actuating means for moving the blocking means lrelativel to the detent means to unblocking position wherein said cooperating means are located out of juxtaposed relationship to each other, and means for moving the blocking means and the detent means as a unit when the blocking means is in unblocking position to move the detent means to released position and permit movement of the latch means to unlatched position.

2. The combination recited in claim 1 including resilient means biasing the blocking means relative to the detent means, cam follower means on the blocking means, and cam means on the latch means engageable by the cam follower means under the action of the biasing means to locate the blocking means in unblocking position when the latch means is in unlatched position and in blocking position when the latch means is in latched position.

3. The combination recited in claim 1 wherein the detent means includes a lever pivotally mounted intermediate the ends thereof on the support means, the blocking means includes a lever pivotally mounted intermedi ate the ends thereof on the detent lever, one of the levers saving a portion adjacent one end thereof located transversely of the other lever adjacent one end thereof and engageable therewith to move the levers as a unit about the detent lever pivot when the detent lever is moved to released position, the blocking lever including a blocking foot adjacent the other end thereof movable into and out of juxtaposition relative to a portion of the support means to provide the cooperating means in the blocking position of the blocking lever.

4. The combination recited in claim 3 wherein the latch means includes a cam edge portionand the blocking lever is resiliently biased about its pivot on the detent lever to locate a cam follower portion of the blocking foot in engagement with the cam edge portion of the latch means, the cam edge portion locating the blocking foot out of juxtaposition to the portion of the support means when the latch means is in unlatched position and locating the blocking foot in juxtaposition to the portion of the support means when the latch means is in latched position.

5. The combination recited in claim 3 wherein the latch means is rotatably mounted on the support means and include a peripheral shoulder dening the latched position of the latch means and peripheral edge portions spaced radially with respect to each other, the blocking lever foot including a follower portion engageable with the edge portion spaced a lesser distance from the latch means pivot when the detent lever engages the latch means shoulder to locate the blocking lever foot in juxtaposition to the portion of the support means, the follower portion being located in engagement with the edge portion spaced a greater radial distance from the latch means pivot when the latch means is in unlatched position to locate the blocking lever in unblocking position with respect to the portion of the support means.

6. A closure latch comprising, in combination, support means, latch means mounted on the support means for movement between latched, unlatched and intermediate positions, detent means mounted on the support means for movement between a holding 'position wherein the detent means are engageable with the latch means in latched and intermediate positions to respectively hold the latch means in each such position and a released position wherein the detent means permit movement of the `latch means to unlatched position, resilient means biasing the detent means to holding position, blocking means mounted on the detent means for movement therewith as a unit and movement relative thereto between blocking and unblocking positions, cooperating means on the blocking means and the support means located in juxtaposed relationship to each other in the blocking position of the blocking means and the latched position of the latch means to block movement of the blocking means and detent means as a unit, actuating means operable to move the blocking means relative to the detent means to unblocking position wherein said cooperating means are located out of juxtaposed relationship to each other, cooperating means on the blocking means and detent means for moving the detent means and the blocking means as a unit when the blocking means is in unblocking position to move the detent means to released position, and cooperating means on the latch means and the blocking means maintaining the blocking means in unblocking position without operation of the actuating means when the latch means is in intermediate and unlatched positions.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,204,667 11/1916 King 292-210 2,031,738 2/1936 Schoch 292--144 3,122,388 2/ 1964 Powers 292-108 3,173,715 3/1965 Roethel. 3,334,935 8/1967 Eddy 292-216 RICHARD E. MOORE, Primary Examiner. 

